Three Years: The Shadow Of Gotham
by FenrisRoots
Summary: Discontinued: Naruto get's bored and transports himself to the DC universe.
1. Chapter 1

This Fic is a repost of the original version of Three Years: The Shadow Of Gotham put on this profile for the purpose of keeping it separate from my active fics.

A Rewrite has been started and posted on my other profile:

The Distorted Shadow

* * *

Three years. It had been three years since the fourth Shinobi war had ended and Naruto had quickly discovered one simple problem in his goal for world peace… it was boring.

In the three years since they had defeated Madara and the Jūbi and everything had changed. The five nation alliance had endured courtesy of the sandaime Tsuchikage and Nara Shikaku creating a system that all the current Kages agreed was fair and didn't favour any country more than the others.

Beyond that the 'five nation alliance' had expanded, allowing other smaller hidden villages to join, creating a truly massive organisation of shinobi that practically spanned the entire continent.

Beyond that the crime rates had decreased significantly, bandits that at one time would sit at the borders of countries and simply run across if shinobi appeared to apprehend them no longer possessed the safety of differing countries with aggressive reactions to others, giving them nowhere to run if they were ever caught.

Combined with several other factors including rules that stated that shinobi were no longer allowed to fight each other reduced the number of missions that came to the shinobi alliance and gave them more manpower to hunt down and capture nuke-nins and it wasn't long ago that nuke-nins became a thing of the past.

All of this combined with Sasuke's return and pardon from his previous crimes had left the hero of the fourth shinobi war with nothing to do. He had spent three years using Kage bunshin to train and had long since become a far more balanced fighter, possessing a significantly larger repertoire of ninjutsu and taijutsu along with a few genjutsu he had spent years' worth of work on.

He had also decided to give reading another shot, after all he had enjoyed Ero-sennin's first book back when he read it on Myōbokuzan while learning Senjutsu. He had quickly discovered that with his newfound patience granted by learning how to sit perfectly still for hours on end, combined with nothing important to do, books were far more entertaining to him than before.

Then of course there was Sakura, after Sasuke's return and his decision to let his hate go and just get on with his life, she had finally succeeded in getting a date off the reformed Uchiha. He had been surprised by how little he felt over that event, quickly coming to the conclusion that he had misinterpreted his feelings for her.

He had gotten closer to Hinata, though no matter how hard he tried he simply couldn't think of her as anything other than a shy little sister figure in his life and that had destroyed any chance he had of ever becoming more than friends, much to her dismay.

All in all, he simply felt bored nearly all of the time, having learned so much and reached a level where people were beginning to call him the next 'Shinobi no Kami' had left him with no challenge anymore. There was no Akatsuki, there was no Orochimaru, there was no Jūbi, there were no nuke-nin, there was no excitement.

Suddenly his mind was assaulted by the memories of a Kage Bunshin he had put to working on time/space techniques and he couldn't stop himself from grinning at the potential that had shown itself to him.

Quickly grabbing the red sleeveless coat Shima had made him he proceeded to make his way to speak with the Rokudaime Hokage about his resignation.

XXX XXX XXX

Hatake Kakashi was a talented ninja, sure he lacked the inhuman chakra reserves of people like Naruto or the Yondaime Raikage but what he lacked in power he more than made up for in versatility. It was this that had resulted in him being appointed the Rokudaime Hokage after Tsunade's death at the hands of the resurrected Uchiha Madara.

He had long since stopped arriving late for everything, realising that the person he had admired had turned into one of the cruellest and most dangerous shinobi in the world. However that debacle was behind him, while Obito had come to the belief that happiness couldn't exist in the world as it was, Kakashi knew he was wrong. The present was enough to confirm his own belief as well.

With the nations joining together the continent had been united and the suffering that had once plagued the elemental nations had been quickly stamped out, sure the process wasn't finished yet but it had only been three years.

The one thing that truly worried him though was his old student. Naruto had been so happy when they had succeeded in defeating Obito, Madara and the Jūbi, however as time passed he began to look jaded before he eventually became a recluse, spending most of his time holed up in his new home (a gift for the pivotal role he played in the war) instead of with his friends.

Kakashi understood exactly why that had happened as well… Naruto was a man of action and there was no longer any action in the elemental nations to sate his thirst for a challenge.

As he was thinking on this he nearly jumped out of his seat when the doors were flung open and a sight he thought he'd never see again appeared before him, an excited Naruto.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei! How's it going today?" the blond opened with some small talk, however Kakashi knew that it was just to try and ease the air between them for whatever he was going to say later.

"Not too bad, though I do have to wonder why you decided to drop by today," the silver haired man asked him with an eye smile, only to lose it upon seeing the blond untie his hitae-ate and place it on the desk.

"I've come to hand in my resignation," the shock that appeared on the older shinobi's visible face made the blond smile lightly, "you don't need me anymore, I have nothing left to work towards except being Hokage and even what would I do? So I want to travel outside of the elemental nations, I want to see new places and meet new people… please don't try to stop me Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi couldn't stop himself from giving a sad smile under his mask at his students declaration, honestly he felt it would be a good thing for him to get out more and meet new people, the boy had been distancing himself enough before so who was he to try and deny the boy?

"I understand, will you return?" the one eyed Kage asked the boy calmly, earning a sad look of the blond.

"Probably not," the blond admitted with a sad smile, earning a sigh off the former Jōnin.

"I see… well then at least give us some time to see you off," the man with gravity defying silver hair asked the blond, earning a simple nod off the blond.

XXX XXX XXX

Naruto had to admit that he wasn't expecting such a large farewell, he was pretty sure that all of Konoha and most of the shinobi in the world had come to see him off as he prepared his newest jutsu to transport him to the place that had piqued his interest.

It truly was an incredible sight to behold, seeing so many people in one place all wishing the saviour of the world the best of luck as he prepared to leave them forever, the world no longer in need of his presence to maintain the newly established peace.

It was certainly a strange experience, the lack of sadness he felt upon seeing the people all cheering his name as he was about to leave, he almost felt proud that he had helped bring the world together the way it had been.

It was with a final farewell that he used his newest jutsu to leave, not one person in the crowd expecting the truth of the technique he had used.

XXX XXX XXX

Opening his eyes, he smirked as he saw the city his bunshin had ended up in before, in an alley in a truly massive city that stretched into the sky, covering the many alleys in perpetual darkness as countless people flowed through the streets and large metal contraptions whizzed through the middle.

He took a deep breath and almost choked at the sheer pollution in the air, shocking him at the fact that so many people chose to live in such an unclean environment.

[Hey punk! Fork over your wallet!] came a yell in a language he didn't recognise, making him turn around and see a scruffy man holding a tiny blade that was currently pointed towards him in one hand.

"Huh? What did you say?" the blond asked blankly making the man shake his head a little before muttering to himself and thrusting the blade at the spiky haired teenager.

The next thing the mugger knew, he was on the ground with an arm twisted behind his back and his penknife laying on the floor several feet from his current position.

"Sorry about his," Naruto told the man earning a confused look of the guy that had tried to kill him before placing a hand on the persons head and using a jutsu that was widely used by T&I to extract information from uncooperative prisoners.

Sifting through the man's memories he picked apart the language, using a trick he had long since learned to help process the memories of his Kage bunshin when they dispelled to compartmentalise all the information he was extracting in order to pick up the language these people used.

When he was finished, the mugger had lost consciousness and simply lay on the ground out cold from the sifting process, making the blond turn to the street with a grin.

Yes, this Gotham City would be fun to deal with.

XXX XXX XXX

Naruto had to admit, creating an identity for himself in this world was far easier than in the elemental nations, after all it appeared that only about one in a million people possessed any form of ability even remotely similar to the sorts of things that could be achieved with chakra. However in this world they were known as meta-humans and tended to be either loved as hero's or feared as villains, some even had the same sort of reputation as Madara back home, where even the mere mention of the name was taboo.

Still, without anyone capable of dealing with genjutsu that he was aware of, it was a simple matter to create an identity for himself. He had even managed to worm his way into Gotham State University on a sports scholarship while he took a toxicology course.

It really hadn't taken him long to get up to speed on everything about the world, being capable of creating up to five thousand Kage bunshin and make them invisible definitely had its perks.

He also found computers an interesting development, even going so far as getting his hands on one and deciding to see if he could succeed in making money in a similar (albeit less perverted way) than his late godfather.

It hadn't taken him long to get settled into his new lifestyle, go to university, send a Kage Bunshin to work, keep a bunshin working on his book and keep his skills up to scratch.

He had quickly learned that his clothes were… unusual in this world and had pawned a few of his things and gotten himself a normal wardrobe for this world, consisting primarily of loose fitting jeans, black t-shirts and a leather jacket.

Of course that didn't stop him from sticking out, he had to admit that he was rather annoyed at the sheer number of times he had had to tell people that his 'whiskers' were birthmarks and not scars or tattoos

However none of that would matter once he made his 'superhero' debut. He had not come to this world unprepared after all, he already knew that he would wear a standard cloaked ANBU uniform with a mask that was very important to him. It was a simple shape with a pair of slanted, slit like eye holes, while a large red swirl and sharpened line were painted on the jaw to cover the mouth with its last distinguishing feature being the four lines that decorated the forehead.

Yes, that mask was important to him, the previous owner had taught him a valuable lesson back when he had gone on his first C turned A rank mission… that it was by protecting those precious to him that he would become truly strong.

Even now he still remembered that lesson, however his precious people no longer needed him, so instead of sitting around doing nothing he was going to make his mark on a new world.

He would show them the power of his nindo, his ninja way.


	2. Chapter 2

Naruto had to admit, sports sucked. Well, the sports themselves didn't really suck but the people he was playing with did, they were all so slow and despite their mass, they lacked the raw power of people like Ē and Chōji.

It actually amused him that the people he had managed to convince to give him the chance had demanded a urine sample under the pretence that he was probably taking steroids. Of course that was bullshit, he just had large quantities of chakra flowing through his system unlike these people.

He had been slightly surprised by the fact that these people possessed the potential for chakra but didn't have any knowledge of how to access it, then again, if it wasn't for the Rikudō sennin then it was unlikely anyone in the elemental nations would know how to access the power.

Still, he knew he would come back as perfectly normal, he had already had a test done to make sure he wouldn't be caught out by things like this before he signed up, at least having the test done privately gave him a chance to… adjust the doctors memories if it came back as being abnormal.

Fortunately that wasn't the case, so he knew he wouldn't have any trouble with that side of things.

That didn't change the fact that sports were too easy for him here, he could probably make a living as a professional athlete without even using 5% of his true strength and speed, yeah he was pretty sure he'd blitz any of these short or long distance runners and a Marathon… he could do that in ten minutes at top speed… without using Senjutsu or Kurama's chakra.

But he wasn't here to humiliate the sports stars, he was here for action, to lead a life filled with thrills and hard knocks. Back home he had become so bored he was almost tempted to learn Edo Tensei just to reresurrect Madara and get a proper fight again. The only things stopping him in the end were his morals forbidding him from taking a life and the possibility of Madara killing people in the crossfire of their fight.

Hopefully here he'd meet someone capable of testing his new limits, after all, he was so much stronger than before it was unreal, hell he may even be capable of fighting against Madara without Kurama's chakra at his current level.

Still, here he was, walking through the corridors on his way to one of his secondary subjects, apparently they were required to take Mathematics if they were studying any form of science and he had soon found that with his patience dramatically increased and his newfound fondness of books and challenge, that learning was now something he actually enjoyed.

"_**I still don't understand why you enjoy these subjects, you were such an idiot when you were younger I'd have thought you'd avoid them at all costs,"**_ came a familiar voice from the back of his mind, earning a smile off the spiky haired teenager.

"_I know what you're saying but then again, I've always enjoyed a challenge and fighting stopped being challenging after the 4__th__ shinobi war,"_ Naruto responded silently as he continued to walk through the halls ignoring the glances he was receiving from some of the girls.

"_**So… are you planning on actually dating now that Sakura isn't a problem anymore?" **_the kitsune asked him with curiosity lacing its voice as it proceeded to check out the women that were checking out his container.

"_Maybe, it depends on whether or not I find the right girl for me,"_ the whiskered blond responded calmly, he'd long since learned that Kurama had decided to take it upon himself to act as a sort of big brother figure after he'd finally let go of his hate and accepted Naruto as a worthy human being.

"_**You mean one that can go all day and night and still be able to walk afterwards?" **_the giant fox asked him with a grin as the blond had to force himself not to face palm at the bijū's statement.

"Ero-kitsune," he muttered under his breath as he avoided walking into a redhead that was just turning the corner. Continuing onwards he soon found himself reaching his class with plenty of time to spare, it hadn't taken long for him to memorize the layout of the place, especially with the one hundred or so invisible Kage bunshin walking along the ceiling to help.

"_**Well, if you're going to sit around in class all day, I'm going to sleep, wake me up when you've finished," **_and with that the fox proceeded to lay down and get ready for a nap.

"_Yeah, yeah, see ya later furball," _the whiskered blond responded with a smile that he passed off as being directed at the professor before taking a seat and preparing himself to learn.

XXX XXX XXX

Naruto had soon discovered that he had hit a small snag in his plan of becoming a 'superhero' as they called them, he had no way of finding crime unless he stumbled across it. Sure he could follow chakra signatures or even negative emotions but he couldn't use either of those skills to identify the difference between an armed robbery or a family arguing over dinner.

So he would have to find a way to find crime, sure if he could find and place a Hiraishin Seal on that superhero they called 'Batman' he'd be able to follow him there but he had heard that Batman wasn't particularly welcoming of other hero's in his city. Then again he kind of expected it after hearing all the information there was about Batman and using it to narrow down the list of suspects, leaving him with only one that could plausibly be the Bat.

It was actually rather amusing when he thought of how easy it was to figure out who Batman was and the fact that no one had managed to before. Then again he did come from a world where they were taught how to do that sort of stuff before they were ten years old so it shouldn't really have been much of a surprise to him that the criminals here failed so spectacularly.

However what truly mattered was thinking of a way to get information concerning crimes without resorting to stealing a police radio. What did he currently have at his disposal? How could he keep an eye on the entire city? He probably could use Kage bunshin but the sheer number he would require would be inconvenient when they could be used for training or learning instead. Thinking on the situation for a while he eventually came up with a plan that could potentially work.

XXX XXX XXX

The Professors at Gotham State University couldn't believe the situation they found themselves in, Naruto Uzumaki, their newest student was displaying such an immense talent in the art of Toxicology that he'd already managed to complete the entire first year of the course within the first fortnight of his arrival.

The main problem was that he was starting on the second year resources and was officially storming ahead of the rest, exactly how such a thing was possible eluded them but in the end he was performing at inhuman levels, however it had been confirmed by a blood test that he was completely normal outside of exceptionally long telomeres, in other words he'd be more likely to live longer than normal people but that was it.

However his aptitude was actually rather worrying, they had long since learned that within Gotham's borders exceptional people tended to become… unhinged and they could already see the potential for such a thing with the occasional shifting of his emotions for no reason.

The real question however was whether or not they could find a way to keep an eye on him outside of University without raising suspicion, they needed to make sure that he wasn't going to go off the deep end and turn into another Jonathon Crane or dare they say it? Another Joker.

It was bad enough that he was showing such talent in an area as dangerous as toxicology but to add to that he had already shown himself to be an unparalleled athlete as well, if he ever became a super villain then Gotham would have even more problems than before.

So here they were, having coffee in the staff room while mulling over what they could possibly do with the young man when a series of quiet knocks rapped on the door, prompting one of the professors to head towards the door and open it only to blink in surprise.

"Hello Mr Uzumaki, what can I help you with today," the lecturer asked the spiky haired blond in surprise causing the teen to rub the back of his head in a manner he had always done since he was a child caught throwing a cup of instant ramen on a random Chūnin.

"Sorry for disturbing you professor but I have a couple of questions concerning my education," the whiskered boy told him while looking away in embarrassment, making the full time researcher raise an eyebrow at the boys demeanour.

"What is the problem Mr Uzumaki?"

"Well, I was wondering if there was any way to… slow down my education without decreasing my rate of learning?" Naruto asked the man, earning another raised eyebrow off the man, "you know, like extracurricular studies, work experience, anything like that?"

Immediately the staff room all began to think the same thing before the professor that answered the door informed the blond of the possibility.

"It may be possible and I'm sure it would be beneficial for you to get some real life experience in the subject," the scientist said with a smile.

"Thank you professor, I'll see you tomorrow," and with a polite bow, the blue eyed blond left as the door was closed by a smiling lecturer.

"I have a friend in GCPD, I'll see if they have a place they can keep an eye on him," the man said, earning relieved looks off the rest of the professors, if there was anywhere that another psycho could be caught before going big, it was in the police department itself.

Unknown to them, a single, invisible figure sitting upside down on the ceiling smirked upon hearing the man's statement, it may have taken awhile but a subtle genjutsu to make them suspicious of his 'talent' had worked its magic perfectly.

With its mission complete, the bunshin vanished in a silent burst of invisible smoke.

XXX XXX XXX

Naruto definitely had to admit, partying in Gotham was nothing like partying in Konoha. For one, Konoha had a very small variety of alcoholic beverages, most bars tended to cater to ninja so most parties were small groups simply sitting and drinking in toast to something.

In Gotham… well, the music was loud, the number of drinks was in the region of thirty to forty different varieties with countless being what they called cocktails, the number of people dancing on the floor was immense and all in all, the noise was enough to deafen any Inuzuka for life.

It was a good thing he wasn't an Inuzuka.

"CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! YYYEEEAAAAHHHH!" Naruto had to admit this was probably one of the liveliest atmospheres he had ever been a part of before… the cocktail wasn't too bad either.

"NEXT!" the spiky haired blond shouted as soon as he finished the jug of extra cheeky Vimto.

"TO OUR NEWEST STAR! THIS SEASON! WE'RE GONNA WIN BIG!" the Quaterback of the football team shouted with enough enthusiasm to remind Naruto of himself back when he was proclaiming he would become Hokage. He had eventually grown out of that phase once he had been acknowledged by everyone, eventually realising that he had never wanted the job in the first place but the respect that came with it.

"YYEAAH!" the rest of the team shouted in response, every one of them certain of the teams victory in the upcoming championship.

Naruto couldn't stop himself from laughing at the situation he was in, strangely enough despite the difference between him and the group he was currently hanging out with, he almost felt like he belonged there, as if he was more suited to this world than his own.

"_**Well I've got to admit, I haven't seen you have this much fun since you fought the Jūbi," **_Kurama said out of nowhere, making the blond chuckle externally, not that anyone was sober enough to notice.

"_Yeah, I could definitely get used to this," _the whiskered boy admitted to his lifelong partner.

"_**So have you noticed?" **_the giant fox asked from within his head.

"_What?" _Naruto really didn't know what the fox was talking about, there wasn't a lot that had stood out for him and given that his Uzumaki healing factor was breaking down the alcohol almost as quickly as he was consuming it he was for the most part sober.

"_**Over there, at the bar, the cute redhead,"**_ the bijū stated, only to receive an eye roll off his container.

"_You want me to pay attention to some random girl? Do you want to become a godfather or something?"_ the blue eyed shinobi asked the fox seriously, earning a grumble off the fox before it gave its reason.

"_**Don't you remember nearly getting knocked over by her last week?"**_ Kurama asked with a raised eyebrow.

"_Why would I bother remembering something like that?"_ the blond retorted.

"_**Because she's cute," **_came the kitsune's simple response.

"Ero-kitsune," Naruto muttered to himself before taking another jug of extra cheeky vimto and starting to down it much to the delight of the rest of the group.

XXX XXX XXX

Naruto definitely had to admit, Commissioner Gordon was interesting. He looked like a serious old man with a neatly groomed head of grey hair, a bushy moustache and a pair of large square glasses. He wore a white button up shirt with a black tie, beige trousers and a brown overcoat that reminded him somewhat of 'the crazy snake lady' back home.

"So, I've heard you're quite the genius," the significantly older man stated calmly as he observed the blond, the professor that had asked for the placement had already informed him that the boy appeared to be slightly unhinged already, regularly displaying sudden and unexplained changes on the emotional spectrum.

Of course that meant that keeping an eye on the boy was a midlevel priority, Gotham already had an overabundance of nut jobs so keeping an eye on those that displayed any deviation from sanity were supposed to be monitored if possible.

"I prefer to think that I'm a hard worker," Naruto responded with a smile, it wasn't a lie, he did put a lot of work into getting to the point he was currently at… several thousand kage bunshin hours of work that is.

"That is a good attitude to have, we tend to work long hours here," Gordon informed the blond with a small smile, "just remember that while working here you will be on call and expected to come by at a moment's notice. We'll avoid calling for you while you are fulfilling your obligations to the University but expect to be called in the middle of the night."

"Yes sir," the whiskered blond responded with a confident smile before they arrived at the labs.

"Dr Evans, this is the new assistant I told you about," the older cop stated as soon as they entered the room, attracting the attention of a middle aged man with short blond hair wearing a lab coat.

"I see, put on a coat and come over," the scientist said with barely concealed contempt, Naruto wasn't sure why the man seemed annoyed right now but he knew he'd find out sooner or later.

"Well then Mr Uzumaki, I'll leave you in the capable hands of Dr Evans," and without further ado, the grey haired man left.

XXX XXX XXX

Naruto had to admit, Dr Evans wasn't as bad as he thought he'd be, it appeared that the man's problem was the belief that he'd be getting an incompetent kid with no experience working in an uncontrolled environment.

However Naruto had quickly proven to the man that he was more than capable of adjusting to any problems that had appeared during their time together, even if every problem was caused by the man and wouldn't prove even remotely dangerous. Because of that Naruto was certain the man was just testing his ability to adapt and he honestly couldn't blame the man.

One of the main points that caught his attention though was the police radio that was located in the lab, according to Dr Evans it was there so that the forensics team could attend a scene as soon as possible.

And speaking of forensics, Naruto was pretty sure he would aim for a flat out degree in that subject after his experience in an actual forensics lab.

Beyond that though, he had finally gotten his hands on what he needed, a portable police radio. He had managed to convince Gordon to give him one with a bit of help from a subtle genjutsu that simply made people more agreeable, so the police knew he had one and he wouldn't be arrested for stealing.

"_**Honestly, how can you find anything like that fun?"**_ Kurama said in his head once again.

"_Well I have changed a lot since I was a kid," _Naruto admitted calmly as he flopped onto his small leather sofa and turned his TV on, _"besides, it'll help with my 'other work' when I finally get around to making my debut."_

"_**And when are you planning on making your superhero debut?"**_ the giant kitsune asked as he started to watch the Television through his hosts eyes.

"_The next time a crime is called in on the radio," _Naruto admitted calmly as the duo proceeded to flip through the channels looking for something decent to watch.

Hours passed as the pair simply sat back and watched an action movie with a can of beer in hand.

Eventually the radio buzzed to life concerning a supposed drug deal that would be going down at the docks, making Naruto grin before making a Kage Bunshin to 'act as himself' while he placed a single finger on a seal he had placed on his wrist, instantly trading his civilian clothes for something more practical.

"It's show time," and with Haku's mask firmly attached to his face, he vanished in a swirl of wind, forsaking the leaves that normally formed a part of the effect.

XXX XXX XXX

"Hurry up, you never know when the Bat'll get here and bust our asses," a man wearing a white suit said quietly, earning several nods of agreement from the others on his side of the deal. On one side the men were all dressed in suits and carrying MP5's while the other side wore much more casual attire and carried AK47's.

"Don't worry, we've brought dogs, he can't hide from their noses," the leader of the more casual side stated with an almost vicious grin plastering his face.

"Yeah but that only works when they actually tell you someone's there," came an unfamiliar voice as an arm flung itself over his shoulder.

Almost immediately all guns were turned on the stranger that had appeared out of nowhere with the dealers noting the dark cloak and strange mask of the individual, however what truly shocked them was seeing the dogs that were supposed to be on look out completely ignoring the stranger.

"And just who the hell do you think you are?" the apparent leader of the dealers asked with venom clear in his voice.

"Who am I? I am just a shadow," and with that statement the strange masked man vanished right in front of their eyes before a cry of pain occurred behind them.

The scene that they turned towards shocked the group, to see all of the suited thugs laying in an unconscious pile while the masked stranger simple sat on the group of gun wielding gangsters.

"Well that was disappointing, I was expecting these guys to put up a bit more fight than that," Naruto said with a tone of boredom layering his voice.

"Kill the bastard!" the leader of the AK wielding group yelled only for the stranger to wave his arm before a strange wind picked up and the gang's gun suddenly fell to pieces with several clean cuts rendering the guns scrap.

"Now that isn't very nice, you should know that you can't kill a shadow," the hooded blond stated while wagging his finger at the group.

"Well it would appear the police are nearly here so I suppose I should end this now," before any of the dealers could even put their guard up, the masked man had vanished and they all found their stomachs being compacted by immense blows that knocked them out almost instantly.

"Well that was boring wouldn't you say Batsy?" Naruto said loudly while looking towards a crate, displaying no surprise when a large man wearing a grey spandex suit and a large black cape that extended into a mask with two protruding, ear like structures erupting from the top walked out from behind the object.

Batman was definitely suspicious, he had never heard of this person before and they had literally just taken out nearly twenty armed thugs without a hint of fear or a shot getting pulled off, however what truly surprised him was the fact that this man had literally just vanished into thin air and several thugs had almost instantly fallen, combined with the strange cutting wind that appeared to have been created by the stranger and he was certain that this man could quite possibly be incredibly dangerous if ever provoked.

Fortunately this supposed shadow hadn't killed a single thug, instead simply knocking them out quicker than his eyes could follow. So that made it unlikely that he was a member of the league of shadows, they tended to kill their enemies as opposed to simply knock them out.

Naruto had to admit that Batman was being rather annoying, the police were getting closer and the bat hadn't done anything but try and stare him down, not that the man's glare bothered him, Madara's glare lacked the hostility that the caped crusaders possessed however that was because it possessed an almost derogatory feel to it because he simply didn't consider you worth his time. The worst part of that was that he had the power to back up his stare unlike the man in front of him.

So it didn't take a lot to simply ignore the crime fighters pointed glare as he decided he'd wasted enough time as it was.

"Well, sorry to cut your little stare down short but I'd rather not be around when the cops arrive so until next time, arrivederci Batsy," and with that he vanished just as the police arrived on the scene to see a glaring Batman surrounded by unconscious thugs.

XXX XXX XXX

'**New Vigilante On The Prowl'**

'**Last night a masked assailant with the power to vanish broke up a major drug deal at the docks before the arrival of police, according to witness statements this new hero calls himself 'Shadow'. Police are investigating the scene for any evidence concerning the event though nothing has turned up so far.'**

Naruto had to admit that the newspaper article amused him, to think that they thought his 'vanishing act' was a superpower. The reality of the matter was that it was simply raw speed. Kaimon enhanced raw speed but raw speed none the less.

He had to admit though, it felt good to stop a crime against armed thugs, even if guns were nowhere near as dangerous as some of the attacks he'd faced, hell Lee's punches always created a sonic boom by the time he had left the elemental nations and he'd had no problems dodging them so bullets were nothing special as far as he was concerned.

It did slightly annoy him that the newspaper had taken his statement out of context and assumed that he was calling himself Shadow, instead of acknowledging that he was calling him 'a' shadow. Then again it wasn't like he was going to hold a press conference and start explaining his statement to them, so they could call him whatever they wanted.

He had more important matters to deal with anyway… like getting to class on time.


	3. Chapter 3

**Alias: Shadow**

**Real Name: Unknown**

**Age: Unknown**

**Height: 175cm (estimate)**

**Weight: 55kg (estimate)**

**Eye Colour: Unknown**

**Hair Colour: Unknown**

**Allegiance: Unknown**

**Abilities: Teleportation (speculated), Air Manipulation (speculated)**

**Weaknesses: Unknown**

**Threat Level: High (estimate)**

Bruce Wayne couldn't help but let out a sigh at the information he had managed to gather on the 'hero' now known as Shadow. He had only met the stranger once however he could tell that the man lacked any sort of fear towards him, the simple fact that he managed to wave off his glare without a hint of discomfort was enough to tell the detective that this man was either arrogant or incredibly powerful, possibly both.

What truly annoyed him though was the fact that this 'hero' had decided to start operating in Gotham, even Superman knew that Gotham was off limits to any hero outside of Batman unless they had a _very _good reason for getting involved.

However this Shadow had completely stamped on that courtesy, having already taken out several small time crooks. As far as the dark knight was concerned Shadow was just lucky he hadn't come across anyone truly dangerous yet, with the apparent arrogance he possessed it was likely he'd underestimate them and find himself in a truly tight spot.

The worst part was he had no idea who was behind the mask, the stranger had managed to cover his tracks better than any other superhero he knew of. It hadn't taken him this long to determine that the meta-human known as 'The Flash' was Wally West, or that Superman was Clark Kent, however despite his best efforts he couldn't figure out this strangers identity.

Honestly the only thing he did know was that this man was definitely not the original Shadow that operated primarily in New York, that man was ostracized from the superhero community for his methods, many felt killing criminals was going too far.

Letting out another sigh at his lack of detail on this masked crusader, he decided to simply push the thought out of his head since tonight was going to be one of the few nights that Dick would be taking time out of his studies to come over to help him fight crime.

XXX XXX XXX

Naruto definitely had to admit, something was wrong. He was currently playing in the football game against State Tech and one of the team stars, a bulky dark skinned man by the name of Brian Rodgers was acting very wrong. The only times Naruto had seen people act like that was under the influence of the Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu.

Meaning someone had it in for him. If he was right then it would probably be some form of hallucinogen that was causing the man's problems right now. Given that he doubted anyone would be stupid enough to take illegal narcotics before a major game, let alone a kind that would leave them terrified, he was certain someone had sabotaged his teammates performance, especially given the fact that scouts for major league teams were here talent searching.

Of course the real problem was the fact that he could detect a small chakra signature in the rafters with a malicious edge to its aura that he easily picked up on. Unfortunately he didn't have any bunshin near the arena and there wasn't anywhere he could create one without attracting attention to his abilities so all he could do was continue with the game like nothing was wrong and hope that either nothing came of this strangers presence or that there'd be a distraction large enough to cover him creating a bunshin and becoming 'Shadow'.

Naruto prepared himself to catch any throw Brian would send his direction only to freeze in surprise as the larger man suddenly had a breakdown and fell to the pitch, dropping the ball and begging the other team to not hurt him.

It was at this point that Brian's roommate rushed onto the field, a young man by the name of Richard Grayson, also known as the adopted son of Bruce Wayne… and almost certainly Batman's sidekick Robin.

Naruto couldn't stop his eye from narrowing as he felt the malicious chakra signature move away after the medical team rushed onto the pitch to determine what was wrong with the quarterback.

He knew this much, he would get answers about this game, that chakra signature was unique enough for him to hunt down when he finally got a chance.

XXX XXX XXX

Jonathon Crane was always considered a genius, however like so many other exceptional individuals that graced Gotham, he had developed psychological problems that made him incredibly dangerous, in his case an obsession with fear.

He loved nothing more than to watch people writhing in terror as his toxins invaded their bloodstream and pushed every little detail of the world to create debilitating weaknesses that didn't normally surface.

His latest toxin reacted with adrenaline to create a stimulant that invigorated the part of the brain dedicated to the emotion known as fear. It had proven very effective, quickly allowing him to fix several games so he could make some quick money to use to continue his research into more effective far toxins.

Of course there was the tiny problem that right now he was being followed. The person following him obviously had experience in tailing however he wasn't considered a genius for nothing and easily noticed the man's presence.

For that reason he had moved towards a derelict stadium, ready to ambush the stranger and dispose of them as necessary. He walked through the halls, going at a pace that was easy to follow just so that this stranger wouldn't lose sight of him.

Eventually he entered a small room, fully prepared for the stranger to follow him inside and he was not disappointed.

XXX XXX XXX

Naruto definitely had to admit that this stranger was unusual though he had already read the man's file from Arkham Asylum. Jonathon Crane, A.K.A. Scarecrow, a man with an obsession for fear that bordered on the levels of his obsession for ramen.

He possessed a P.H.D in psychology and had written several papers concerning fear before finally going off the deep end and allowing his obsession to rule him.

It was obvious now just how serious the situation concerning him really was upon seeing him terrify the bookies henchman that had followed him. The sheer glee in the insane psychiatrists voice as he dealt with his victim made it clear that the man really did love the sound of people screaming in terror.

He really didn't like the idea that he was stuck doing nothing while the henchman was being driven mad, however he had long since learned that although he possessed a powerful healing factor, he wasn't immune to poison… he still remembered that one time when Sakura had tried to kill Sasuke with a poisoned Kunai and he had ended up getting cut by it, he had only managed to avoid the side effects for a few minutes before he collapsed in a pile of drool.

He really should've asked Sakura to give him whatever upgrade Orochimaru had done to Sasuke to make him poison proof, then he wouldn't have to worry about people like this.

Well the past was the past and the present was the present.

Eventually the masked criminal left, giving the blond a chance to jump down and analyse the poor victim. Looked like his toxicology course was going to come in handy once again.

XXX XXX XXX

Batman and Robin were not having a good time, on their last job Robin had almost gotten them both killed after a sudden panic attack rendered him incapable of doing anything.

However this made it rather clear to Batman that something was definitely wrong if both Robin and his roommate had each had panic attacks on the same day. So the duo had immediately gone to the boy wonders dorm where the world's greatest detective quickly took notice of a telegram that had been sent the previous night.

"Robin, have you seen this?" the cowl wearing vigilante asked his younger partner, making the boy walk over to see the strange telegram he had read the previous night.

"Yeah, that's the weird telegram that came last night," Robin responded before taking the letter off his mentor only to note the pale substance that transferred to his gloves from the paper, "what's that?"

"Our next lead," and without further ado, the dark knight and his apprentice disappeared to run their tests.

XXX XXX XXX

Naruto had to admit, the compound was rather interesting. It reacted with adrenaline to create a protein that stimulated the fear centre in the brain while simultaneously removing the compound required for the 'fight' instinct, leaving even the most hardened warriors nervous wrecks.

Now he was glad he didn't try to face the psychiatrist, simply inhaling a tiny bit of the dust would've rendered him vulnerable for long enough for the good doctor to put him down once and for all.

Fortunately he found synthesising an inoculant rather simple, though creating an antidote wouldn't really be necessary unless someone was actually suffering the effects at the point of injection.

Of course the simple fact that he succeeded in doing such a thing really did impress Dr Evans, especially with the sheer efficiency he created the solution with, then again he had been putting a lot of Kage Bunshin hours into learning everything he could about toxicology and counteracting toxins combined with a bit of Iryō Ninjutsu he had learned off of Sakura after the 4th shinobi war.

"Well I have to admit, at this rate I might end up becoming the assistant," Dr Evans stated with wide eyes as he watched the blond finish creating an inoculant for the substance found on the letter brought in with the hired muscle.

"Maybe, maybe not. Anyway, I've gotta get this stuff to the commissioner," Naruto responded as he filled six sterilized syringes with the liquid and packed five of them while placing the sixth in a storage seal he had placed on his forearm.

Walking out of the lab he wasn't even remotely surprised to see Batman and Robin attempt to vanish into the shadows from their previous place at the commissioners side, honestly their attempts were impressive but against a shinobi of the elemental nations it wasn't enough to work.

"Commissioner Gordon, Batman, Robin," he said in a pleasant tone, earning wide eyes off the three he had just greeted, "I've analysed the fear toxin, it is a partial compound that bonds with adrenaline to create a protein that stimulates the fear receptors in the brain, I've synthesised an inoculant but it won't work if the victim is in the middle of a panic attack."

Silence reigned as the blond finished, he suspected that they were still surprised at the fact he knew the caped crusader was there and seemed to be paying no actual attention to him like most cops did.

"So, aren't you going to take it? There are five shots there and I would rather not stand around like a lemon if at all possible," the blond asked, earning a slightly bewildered look off the commissioner as he accepted the case of syringes, "well then, have a pleasant day you three."

It took a few minutes but eventually the dark knight left the shadows and narrowed his eyes at the retreating form of the blond.

"Who was that?" the muscular man asked the detective seriously, earning a sigh off him.

"That was a student from Gotham State, the professors are worried he'll turn into another Crane so they've sent him here for observation," the elderly man said seriously, earning a nod of acceptance off the superhero.

"That seems rather ironic, a person they're afraid will become like Crane is helping us against him," Robin said after hearing that statement.

"I'll have a word with you about him later, for now, we have to stop Scarecrow," Batman stated calmly, earning a couple of nods of confirmation from the other two.

XXX XXX XXX

Naruto definitely had to admit that Crane's goal of rigging games only made sense under the pretence that he didn't want to raise suspicion and get arrested again, but that didn't change the fact that he still wasn't the most subtle even when trying to be, sudden uncontrollable fear rarely ever happened under normal circumstances.

He had managed to locate the phobia terrorist without much trouble before he started following him through the crowd, or rather, above it. He didn't want to have a panic caused by the master of fear, that would never end well and he knew it.

Another point that he had taken note of was the presence of a certain pair of vigilantes, he actually entertained the idea of letting the Bat and Bird take down the terrorist themselves but if he didn't take down someone with a well-known gimmick then people wouldn't take him seriously.

Watching the fear Doctor walking into the stadium they were currently located, the young blond dropped from the ceiling in his costume, earning gasps from the people on the floor as he landed effortlessly, immediately turning towards the treeline and waving at the younger member of the dynamic duo before rushing inside, ready to face the Scarecrow.

XXX XXX XXX

"Who was that?" Robin asked himself as he put away a pair of binoculars he had been observing the entrance with away. He and Batman had split up with his mentor entering the arena via the roof, ready to make his move when the master of fear presented himself.

Of course he had never seen this person before and seeing the stranger literally wave at him while he was hidden in the treeline and using binoculars put him on edge, whoever this person was they were incredibly observant… just like that strange student at GCPD.

His mind instantly reeled at that point, was it possible that his stranger was going to the same college he was? Shaking his head he pushed that thought out of his mind and rushed forwards, even if it was the same person he'd need help against an opponent like the Scarecrow.

XXX XXX XXX

The Scarecrow currently walked uninhibited by the crowd courtesy of his current disguise, a large brown coat and a bushy fake moustache attached to a pair of large glasses, sure it wasn't a particularly good disguise and anyone that paid attention could tell that it was one, however in a large crowd it stood out far less than his normal mask.

He was intending on putting a large dose of his adrenaline activated fear toxin into the number twelve helmet, the helmet of the player Mitch Nole, the star quarterback of the Gotham Knights.

Turning a corner he was surprised to almost run into a decorated porcelain mask standing right in front of him.

"Boo," the owner of the mask said calmly, earning a raised eyebrow off the genius psychiatrist at the rather pathetic attempt to scare him.

"If you are trying to scare me then you'll have to do a lot better than that," Crane said completely unfazed by the strangers presence.

"I know Dr Crane, that was just to get your attention," Naruto said in a way that made it sound like he was smiling at the 'disguised' man.

Immediately the master of fear turned on his heel, expecting to see a second person about to attack him, only to come face to face with air and then feel a massive impact strike his back and send him flying down the corridor.

"Honestly Dr Crane, I was expecting you to be a little smarter than that," Naruto told the man in a mocking manner as he placed his palm to his forehead in an overly dramatic gesture, "woe is me, for even a genius is a fool."

Hearing the masked man's words made the Scarecrow scowl as he pushed himself up off the floor and turned to face his assailant, easily taking note that the man wasn't exposing any skin for him to aim his toxin at, meaning he would have to defeat this man in standard combat. Fortunately he wasn't exactly weak.

With a surprising burst of speed the downed criminal rushed towards the supposedly distracted hero with a right hook, only to find himself hitting air as the man vanished right in front of his eyes. What truly caught his attention though was the small rush of air that passed him when the man vanished.

"Where were you aiming?" Naruto asked calmly as he put his head over the fear masters shoulder, only to blink when the man rolled forward, his fake moustache falling to the ground and revealing the large, toothy mouth that came with his normal mask.

"Who are you? How are you so fast?" the straw haired villain asked with a hint of nervousness in his tone, he may not have been scared of this stranger but he could tell that the man wasn't the sort he could handle without his fear toxin to inhibit his movements.

"Who am I? I am… well the media is calling me Shadow but I prefer the name Zero," Naruto told the supervillain calmly, earning a raised eyebrow off the psychiatrist.

"You want to be called a Zero?" the master of fear asked with confusion in his tone before the starting whistle sounded, making him curse at being held up by this stranger.

"No, I want to be called Zero, the number of infinite possibilities," Naruto explained, earning another raised eyebrow off the masked crook.

"The number of infinite possibilities, if you want that title then that would suggest that you have a wide array of abilities," the genius psychiatrist stated calmly only to receive a strange hand sign in response.

"Yep," and the next thing the Arkham inmate knew, was fear.

XXX XXX XXX

Robin didn't know what had happened, he had quickly caught up with the duo he had entered after, only to overhear a conversation where the masked man revealed himself to be shadow before stating that he wanted a different name.

That was actually rather amusing in his eyes, most people wouldn't understand the meaning of calling himself Zero but his amusement ended when the Scarecrow suddenly started screaming in terror. Looking around the corner he saw the masked man standing with his hand making a strange sign while the master of fear was kneeling on the floor and clutching himself as if he'd just seen a ghost.

"Yo bird boy, how are you doing?" came an upbeat call, making the boy wonder look at the masked man that was facing his direction, "don't worry about this guy, just caught him in an illusion that makes him live through his worst fears."

That immediately made Batman's partner stiffen, this strange 'hero' was giving Crane a taste of his own medicine, only without the medicine. That definitely made this man a very dangerous opponent if he ever decided to go against everyone, however he had to admit that the strangers current attitude seemed a little far from becoming a criminal.

"Hello Robin, Shadow, do either of you know where the toilet is?" came a call from behind the boy wonder, making him turn to see someone he hadn't expected.

"Dammit Blondie! My name isn't Shadow!" the masked man shouted at his bunshin, earning a dismissive shrug off the spiky haired blond.

"So do either of you know where the toilet is?" the Kage Bunshin asked once again, earning a few directions from the boy wonder who immediately discarded his previous suspicions about the masked man and the toxicology student being the same person.

"Stupid kids, not even showing a hint of respect to the guy that saved their assess from a fear spreading madman," Naruto grumbled under his voice as he tried to keep a straight face at his own ploy.

As long as he didn't let others know of his ability to replicate himself he would have the perfect alibi to preserve his secret identity, he had been seen around his real face.

"Well, he doesn't seem like a particularly normal person anyway," the young Grayson tried to alleviate the other hero's annoyance.

"Meh, whatever, I'm outta here, see ya later Dicky boy," Naruto said before disappearing via shunshin, though he did get to see the boy wonders shock upon calling him by his name.

"Batman is not going to be happy," Robin muttered to himself before moving over to the now unconscious Scarecrow's body and lifting him before setting off to find his mentor and inform him of everything that had happened.

XXX XXX XXX

Batman really was not happy right now, to think that not only had Shadow gotten involved with one of his villains but he had also displayed knowledge of his apprentices identity, which in turn meant he probably knew his identity as well. That was not an acceptable situation.

Outside of that there was also the fact that according to Robin, he seemed more concerned about his alias than the Scarecrow when he dealt with him, easily defeating the Scarecrow by apparently using an illusion that acted in a manner similar to the Scarecrows fear toxin.

Letting out a sigh, he decided it wasn't worth stressing over, all that would do would be leave him with a headache, so he simply updated his file on the newest hero in Gotham.

**Alias: Shadow/Zero**

**Real Name: Unknown**

**Age: Unknown**

**Height: 175cm (estimate)**

**Weight: 55kg (estimate)**

**Eye Colour: Unknown**

**Hair Colour: Unknown**

**Allegiance: Unknown**

**Abilities: Teleportation (speculated), Air Manipulation (speculated), Illusions**

**Weaknesses: Unknown**

**Threat Level: High (estimate)**

Looking at the information, he tried to push the uneasy feeling he had about this person out of his mind before rising from his seat and preparing himself for bed.

XXX XXX XXX

'**Scarecrow caught. According to police reports the criminal known as Scarecrow was apprehended last night by the vigilante known as Shadow. According to GCPD the criminal has been returned to Arkham to undergo therapy after falling prey to his own toxin'**

Naruto's eye twitched. He had explicitly stated to Crane that his name was Zero, not Shadow, so why was the paper still calling him that? Were the reporters trying to piss him off or were they just stupid?

It was nice that they had at least given him the credit instead of shifting it over to Batman and Robin, then again he was the newest sensation as far as headlines went, the new hero getting in on Batman's turf was a story in of itself.

And he already realised that the papers were sensationalist garbage for the most part.

However that could wait, to think that he'd actually been given an offer by Commissioner Gordon to join the forensics team on a permanent basis, apparently he had impressed the man with his quick analysis of the adrenaline activated fear toxin, according to the old detective they needed someone with that sort of skill in Gotham.

He was definitely interested in the offer, it would give him a place where he could collect information on criminals legally and possess a way to find out about crimes without having to stumble upon them.

However he had also made it quite clear that he wanted to continue his education and given that he had just signed up to a full forensics course at the University meant he wasn't going to quit until he had finished it.

"_**Are you still glad you decided to prepare an inoculant before facing the haystack? He didn't even try to use his fear toxin against you," **_Kurama asked from the back of his mind, earning a shrug off the young man.

"_It was a compound that is absorbed through the skin, I didn't know that when I first saw him use it," _the spiky haired blond thought back, earning a snort from the demonic fox.

"_**Please, even if it wasn't you could've taken him out in an instant if you wanted to,"**_ the bijū stated in an amused tone as the blond started flicking through the channels.

"_Yeah, but I didn't know if hitting him would've released the toxin or not, so I decided to leave it until I knew what I was dealing with," _Naruto responded before settling on an action film.

"_**Damn… that chicks hot,"**_ the kitsune said upon seeing the main characters romantic interest.

"Ero-kitsune."


	4. Chapter 4

Naruto definitely had to admit, life was far more entertaining here than back in the elemental nations. Even when he wasn't working, training or in college, there was always some form of entertainment to pass his time.

BANG, BANG, BANG

People couldn't believe their eyes upon seeing the young blond completely decimate the virtual zombies in the arcade, they had never seen anyone get as far as he had, honestly his reflexes were inhuman.

Of course Naruto didn't really care about that, any shinobi from the elemental nations would've found this game easy, compared to dodging shuriken thrown by an ordinary Chūnin, it was child' play.

Letting out a sigh upon finishing the game, Naruto proceeded to leave the machine to let others access to the latest video game while he walked out of the arcade and started looking around the mall for anything of interest.

Today was a Saturday so he had the day off from College, he was literally years ahead of the rest of his class and didn't have to go to GCPD unless there was a crime scene that needed investigated or a compound that needed analysed.

So here he was wasting time and money doing jack. Without thinking about the situation he walked into a music store, he would admit that the music that existed in this world was far more varied than back home.

"Hello," came a strong yet feminine call from beside him, snapping him out of his trance, while he knew this person was there he hadn't expected them to talk to him.

"Hello," the young blond responded with a detached air before focusing back on the albums he was looking at.

"So, you're Naruto Uzumaki huh? The supposed genius of Gotham State that's working with GCPD?" the young woman asked him calmly, making him sigh and turn to face her.

"_**Well, would you look at that… the cute redhead made the first move,"**_ the Kyūbi said with barely concealed glee.

"_Shut up Kurama," _the whiskered blond told the fox without any hesitation, "that's right, is there something you need from me?"

"No, I was just curious about the man my dad said created an inoculant to one of the Scarecrows fear toxins in less than two hours," the blue eyed redhead said with a confident smile, making the blond blink in surprise.

"Uh… sorry but I have no idea who you are," the whiskered teen stated bluntly as his mind wandered over the fact that this girl knew what he had done, meaning she was related to someone within the GCPD, though he didn't know who.

"Barbara Gordon, Commissioner James Gordon's daughter," she informed him with her hand held out for a handshake.

"Oh… I didn't know the Commissioner had a daughter, let alone such a cute one," the spiky haired blond replied while grasping her hand in a friendly manner.

"Already trying to hit on me?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, earning a blank look from the blond.

"No, just stating an observation," came his calm reply, "anyway, it was nice meeting you."

This sentence made the young redhead raise an eyebrow before he turned his attention back to the CD's lining the shelf, surprising her with his rather quick dismissal of her, most boys she'd met kept annoying her with attempts to impress her. Yet here this guy that had unreal academic scores, had impressed the GCPD and had quickly become a star player in the Gotham State University's football team didn't even bother trying to keep a conversation going with her.

It was almost surreal to her, though also a pleasant change from the usual.

Time passed by as she watched the so called genius of Gotham State University looking at CD's with a critical eye, though indecision was clear as he searched through the various cases.

"Do you need any help?" the daughter of the commissioner asked him after several minutes watching the blond looking without any success.

"Uh… well most of these bands are new to me, I only moved over from Japan a couple of months ago so I don't have a clue what's what," the whiskered blond admitted, even if the part about coming from Japan was a lie it did share the same language as the elemental nations.

"Wait? You were raised in Japan?" the young woman asked with shock clear in her tone as she stared at the boy before her.

"Yeah, is that a problem?" the spiky haired youth asked with confusion clear in his tone.

"N-no, it's just you're the first Japanese person I've met that is completely fluent and capable of pronouncing English correctly," Barbara said while looking away with a hint of embarrassment.

"Hehe, yeah, we have a much stricter set of syllables than English," the blue eyed boy admitted with a small chuckle, "but I'm good at learning."

"I've heard," the blue eyed girl stated bluntly, earning a small chuckle off the blond as he picked out a black CD with the words 'AC/DC, back in black' written on the cover.

"Do you know what this is like?" upon seeing the girl stare at him in absolute shock, he realised he had said something rather stupid.

"Are you kidding me? You don't even know AC/DC?" he could tell that she couldn't believe what he was saying, so he responded the only way he knew how.

"So I'm a country boy, it's not my fault I've never heard of them before," it wasn't really a lie, the hidden villages back in the elemental nations were very much like small country towns as far as this world was concerned.

"Ah, sorry, I didn't think about that," the redhead said with a hint of embarrassment in her tone.

"That doesn't matter, what matters is that you didn't answer my question," the spiky haired youth decided to remind her, earning a look of realisation off her before displaying a greater sense of embarrassment than before.

"Well, they're pretty much legendary as far as rock bands go," Barbara informed him, earning a nod of acceptance from the whiskered blond.

"I see… thanks for that, sayonara Barubara-chan," Naruto said while allowing his normal accent through at the final sentence, earning blink of surprise off the commissioners daughter.

"I wasn't expecting that ," she muttered to herself as she began to wonder about the boys use of the suffix after her name, turns out learning a little Japanese hadn't been a complete waste of time after all.

XXX XXX XXX

Jonathan Crane was seething as he sat in his cell in Arkham. This Shadow person had done something he couldn't forgive, he had forced him to fall victim to his own weapon, fear itself.

Unfortunately he now knew that this new vigilante wasn't a pushover, he had definitely felt a breeze in a closed corridor that passed by only one side of him when the masked stranger had vanished. That was enough evidence for him to compile a conclusion, it wasn't that the stranger had teleported, it was actually far more dangerous as far as combat went, Shadow could move faster than the human eye could follow close up. The only consolation was that there wasn't a sonic boom, indicating that he wasn't faster than the speed of sound.

Of course that created a minor problem for the Scarecrow, if this man's reflexes were as fast as his body then catching him off guard to poison him with the fear toxin would be incredibly difficult, however he had a way, he just needed to wait for the right time.

He would have his revenge against both the Shadow and the Bat.

XXX XXX XXX

Naruto had to admit, the CD was pretty good. He was sure that it would've been a hit if it had ever existed in the elemental nations, then again it was completely different to the music that existed back there.

He let his mind wander over his old friends and the hidden villages, had anything changed since he had left? Was Sasuke fulfilling his second ambition? Had Hinata moved on from him? Was Shikamaru still as lazy as ever?

He shook his head, letting those thoughts go as he simply decided that he no longer had to worry about that world, he lived here now and he was honestly enjoying it. He got to discover all sorts of new entertainment, meet many new people and learn things that were completely unknown back in his original reality.

Combine that with the fun he was having as a superhero and he knew which world he preferred right now.

Even though these Gotham City Supervillains were no match for him he had enough to waste his time on so as to not grow bored. His life in particular was proving to be far more interesting that before, especially given his new job in the forensics department at GCPD.

He had quickly discovered that toxicology was probably the least used aspect of the forensics department, with most of the people that used toxins being supervillains as opposed to everyday thugs. Even then it was mainly Jonathan Crane, Pamela Isley and the Joker that used them.

"All units respond, there has been a crash in the new subway station and Mayor Hill is missing, all units commence searching for the mayor," the radio buzzed to life with Commissioner Gordon's voice filling the room, making the blond raise an eyebrow before unsealing his costume and activating sage mode in order to search for Batman's chakra signature, he didn't know the mayors but he was certain that the bat would probably be able to find out where the man was.

"_Why is Batsy in a bank vault?" _with that thought in his head the blond immediately took off towards the Dark Knights location.

XXX XXX XXX

It didn't take long for him to Shunshin over to the caped crusaders location where he suddenly understood why he was there. People were lying on the floor, unconscious but very much alive much to his relief, however it was the fact that the vault door was closed and he could feel Batman was located away from the door.

Deciding that the other vigilante was probably trapped and deciding that the mayor needed rescuing, the blond did the first thing that came to mind, he used his Senjutsu enhanced strength to rip the door from its place.

Upon opening it, he saw a stunned Batman eyes widen at the sight before him before the blond stopped him from saying anything.

"Yo Batsy, no time to play around in bank vault, mayor Hills been kidnapped," almost instantly the dark knight narrowed his eyes at his competitor.

"Then why are you here?" it was obvious that the billionaire wasn't happy at the current situation and given how suspicious it was Naruto really couldn't blame him.

"Because I have a way of tracking you but I don't have a way of tracking the mayor so I decided to see if you did," Naruto said seriously, almost surprising the cowl wearing hero who'd only ever seen him act like a fool.

"Temple Fugate is the kidnapper, I think he's located at the clock tower," the richer of the two decided that it would probably be easier to save the mayor if he had back up and since Dick wasn't here today, he would accept the help on offer right now, even if he didn't particularly like the prospect.

"Alright then, hold on to your lunch cause this ride gets nauseous," the masked hero told the other hero before putting his arm around him and vanishing in a swirl of leaves, headed directly towards the Gotham City clock tower.

XXX XXX XXX

Bruce Wayne had to admit, he felt really sick after that particular ride, though it was unbelievably fast, getting them halfway across the city in a span of mere minutes.

"Alright, you take the stairs, I'll take the direct route," Naruto told his temporary partner before taking off with inhuman speed, confusing the dark knight before he bore witness to the simplest chakra control exercise, running up vertical surfaces.

"So that's what he meant by direct route," the caped crusader muttered before running inside the clock tower, ready to capture Fugate as soon as he tried to run from the superpowered vigilante.

Naruto ran directly upwards, using his enhanced perception granted by Sage mode to see why the mayor wasn't moving from his position on the hour hand as the minute hand slowly made its way downwards, ready to crush the man to death at three fifteen. It didn't take him long to note that the man's hands were tied behind his back and as such he was rendered unable to run from the deranged 'gentleman' that stood not far from him on the hour hand.

With a simple wave of his hand, he saturated the air with his chakra before converting some of it to wind in order to cut the rope holding the mayors hands together before giving the man a small push, making him plummet to his death… except his fall was stopped short by the masked vigilante catching him while calmly ignoring physics as he stood on the side of the clock tower.

"Yo," came the whiskered blonds calm greeting as the mayor stared at his current predicament before passing out from fear, "well that wasn't very polite."

It was with a calm walk downwards that the blond reached the ground once again before finding himself surrounded by the police with several guns pointed his direction.

"Uh, hi?" the blue eyed boy said, earning several sets of narrowed eyes from the police surrounding him.

"Hold your fire," came a familiar call to the blond before the police split and allowed the commissioner to walk out from the crowd, "the voice from the announcement in the subway was completely different to this persons."

"Thank you commissioner Gordon, now if you don't mind, could someone please take this guy off me?" the cloaked Shinobi asked, earning several looks of surprise at his request before a pair of medics came from the crowd and took the mayor to be checked over.

"Do you have any idea where the real culprit is Shadow?" Gordon asked, earning a tensing of the vigilantes shoulders.

"My... name… is… ZERO!" Naruto practically shouted at the crowd of cops who could only blink in surprise at his statement, "and to answer your question, the culprit is a man named Temple Fugate and Batsy is dealing with him right now."

"Wait, you're working with Batman?" one of the cops asked in shock, earning a blank look that they couldn't see under the hunter mask the blond wore.

"On this case, yes, on a permanent basis, no," the cloaked boy proceeded to explain before a loud crashing noise started to reverberate out of the clock tower, which promptly fell to pieces after Batman jumped out with an unconscious Fugate slumped under his arms, "okay… that wasn't my fault, bye bye."

The police were then treated to the sight of a person simply vanishing from their sight, no sound, no blur, he had simply been there one instant and gone the next.

"Where is Shadow?" Batman asked upon reaching the line of policemen, earning a series of incoherent murmurs from the group.

"He was here but then he just… vanished," the commissioner informed the crime fighter only to receive a frown in response.

"I see…" were the only words that left Batman's lips as he handed over the criminal he had apprehended.

XXX XXX XXX

Naruto definitely had to admit that using Hiraishin was a simple solution to most things, however given that he pretty much only had a permanently placed seal in his apartment it was only good for when he wanted to go home without anyone following him.

It didn't take long for him to reseal his costume and let out a sigh at how close he had come to having to deal with Batman more than necessary, honestly he didn't enjoy saving the man earlier but the mayor would've been at risk if it wasn't for that and he had decided long ago to do whatever he could to protect as many lives as possible.

His reason for not wanting to deal with the Bat was quite simple, he knew from some of the newspaper clippings he had read that Batman didn't take well to other hero's working in his city, then again given the fact that he was the sort of person that could buy pretty much whatever he wanted meant that he wasn't used to not getting his own way.

And now Naruto was interrupting his real business and getting away with it, he was certain Batman wouldn't cope well with that possibility.

Deciding to get that thought out of his head, he moved to his CD player and pressed play.

XXX XXX XXX

Bruce Wayne was a little annoyed. Zero as he called himself had disappeared before he had a chance to talk to him.

No matter how much he hated others butting into the business in his city, if it wasn't for Zero he would've had to worry about the mayor and would've therefore been hasty and made more mistakes when fighting Fugate, on top of that if the time obsessed individual had broken the tower like he had this time, then he would've been forced to pick between capturing him or saving the mayor.

So in the end he had been saved from a lot of hassle courtesy of Zero's actions. To top it off, Zero had chosen to save the mayor instead of fight Fugate, indicating that he either had an attachment to Hill or that he placed saving lives before catching criminals.

So while he certainly disliked the idea that someone was running around fighting crooks in his city and managed to hide their identity from him, he was also forced to admit that there were times when he would probably need help that Robin wouldn't be capable of giving.

So it was with a sigh that he once again updated his information on Zero.

**Alias: Shadow/Zero**

**Real Name: Unknown**

**Age: Unknown**

**Height: 175cm (estimate)**

**Weight: 55kg (estimate)**

**Eye Colour: Unknown**

**Hair Colour: Unknown**

**Allegiance: Justice**

**Abilities: Teleportation, Air Manipulation (speculated), Illusions, defying gravity**

**Weaknesses: Unknown**

**Threat Level: High (estimate)**

XXX XXX XXX

'**Mayor Hill saved by vigilante Shadow. Police have reported that the hero known as Shadow called himself Zero and that he has been confirmed to work with Batman. The question is, what has become of Robin? And which name do you prefer for this new vigilante? Turn to page 21 for more details on how to enter our poll:**

**Shadow or Zero'**

Naruto had to resist the urged to burn the paper as he read the article concerning himself. He was actually in two minds about finding this Vicki Vale women and drilling it into her skull that his superhero name was Zero not Shadow.

But then again doing so would probably just cause more trouble after all, that movie he'd watched (Crocodile Dundee if he remembered correctly) had made the point that a female reporter was naturally the biggest busy body in the world, so letting her get close to him would probably just make things even worse for him and wouldn't help at all.

"_**Well today was… boring, when are you going to do something worthwhile?"**_ Kurama said as he put the paper down and walked over to a series of newspapers he had managed to get his hands on from the library.

While he could use Kage Bunshin to go over them, he had already been using them a lot recently so the amount of information he had assimilated was already enormous and he had already gotten enough knowledge to help him fit into the world and get a job that helped with his heroism.

So he'd give his brain a break from constantly receiving large influxes of information, honestly if it wasn't for Kurama and his own categorising trick, his brain probably would've burnt out by now.

"_I already am doing something worthwhile, it's just not exciting,"_ the whiskered ninja calmly responded to his tenant.

"_**Then find something exciting to do… I'm bored as hell! Either find a good fight or at least try to get a girlfriend!" **_the giant fox complained, earning an exasperated eye roll off the blond in the process.

"_You know Kurama, you've almost become as bad as Ero-sennin," _the blue eyed boy said as he looked at the articles he had on one Pamela Isley A.K.A. Poison Ivy.

"_**Well I had to replace my hate with something didn't I?" **_the kitsune stated seriously, _**"damn… another red hot redhead, are redheads naturally sexy or is it just coincidence that all the ones I notice are hot?"**_

"_Look Kurama, why did you have to replace your hate with lust… interspecies lust I might add,"_ Naruto muttered to the fox.

"_**So? Look at how big I am, any woman I ever get together with will find pleasure beyond words," **_the twitch that occurred on the blonds face was missed by the perverted fox.

"_I'm pretty sure if you tried that they'd die… in excruciating agony," _Naruto stated bluntly.

"_**Oh shut up,"**_ the red eyed demon demanded with a pout.

"_You started this conversation, not me,"_ Naruto informed it.

"_**Well I'm ending it now so shut up," **_Kurama finished.

"_Whatever, I've got more info to learn about my potential enemies," _and with that the blond continued to read over what he had found of Dr Isley.

XXX XXX XXX

Arkham Asylum had certain problems. Nearly all of these problems were the inmates, with every one of them being clinically insane with over half of them being metahuman's the results were not particularly nice for the orderlies.

Especially the ones assigned to care for a patient registered as Jack Napier… though that was only a name he had given them and many believed it was just a random name he had thought of.

"Meal for Mr Napier," a large woman stated as she walked over to the orderly on guard duty with a tray of food and water.

"Alright, I'll take it in," upon saying that the orderly couldn't stop himself from shivering, Jack Napier was the one person no one wanted to deal with, especially after what he did to Dr Quinzel.

Taking the tray he opened the high security door to the corridor, looking out of the corners of his eyes at the variety of freaks that had made it into these cells.

Upon making it to the appropriate cell, the orderly dropped the tray and immediately made his way towards the emergency alarm.

The reason was a single note that hung on the door.

"_Gone to meet the new hero – lot of love, The Joker."_


	5. Chapter 5

Bruce Wayne was anything but happy right now. He had just received intelligence that the Joker had escaped Arkham. That single piece of information was something he always hated to hear because the results were always disastrous as far as civilians were concerned.

However it was the knowledge that he had left a note on his door that disturbed him. To think that the clown prince of crime had taken an interest in Zero of all people, sure he had faith that Zero wasn't as defenceless as many people but the Joker wasn't your run of the mill supervillian, he was one of the most dangerous.

Sure he wasn't all that strong but what he lacked in strength he more than made up for in unpredictability and intelligence. Sure he wasn't a supergenius like Lex Luthor but he was definitely smart enough to trick most people into falling into his traps and dooming themselves.

Plus Joker toxin was anything but nice. The worst part however was that the madman changed the chemical make up on a regular basis, making inoculating yourself against it incredibly difficult, if not impossible. The only person he knew of that could potentially resist the toxin would be Poison Ivy and that was purely because of her half plant anatomy and ability to produce poisons of her own without the use of a chemistry set.

So it was official that the most dangerous man in Gotham was going to try and hunt the new hero on the block, Bruce only hoped that he could warn the masked vigilante in time.

It was with gritted teeth that he attempted to do whatever he could to draw out the other hero in time.

XXX XXX XXX

Despite the worries of the dark knight, Naruto was in a state of ecstasy… he had found a restaurant that sold ramen, not the instant stuff that littered the world but proper, full flavour ramen and it was almost as good as Teuchi's… almost.

Then again as far as Naruto was concerned Ichiraku's ramen was the physical evidence that there was a god of some kind that was prepared to let mortals experience pure bliss. Of course normal people didn't have the same level of devotion to the noodle broth that the whiskered blond did so he was the only one with that opinion, though his opinion did hold an immense amount of weight back home and turned Ichiraku's into one of the most profitable businesses in Konoha.

Of course in this world he was just another face… and a mask but neither one was considered important in this reality with him being just some genius and his hero persona being 'just another superhero'.

Then again he hadn't saved this world from a pair of madmen that tried to hypnotise everyone by controlling a monster with infinite power (and he had felt that the Jūbi had no limit to its chakra himself). So until he did something worth any real recognition then he'd always be considered just another vigilante.

It was with a grin that belonged on a child a quarter of his age that he slurped up the noodles with speed that left everyone that saw him staring in amazement, even if he was savouring the flavour, his idea of a slow pace was still impressive for a normal human.

He was so enamoured with his food that he didn't even bother flinching at the loud explosion that rang out from the street, opting to keep stuffing his face with the noodle dish instead of going to see what was happening… even if he was already aware that it was just a group of crooks trying to rob the bank.

Still, the group was nothing special as far as he could tell from what a bunshin he had on lookout saw, they were probably just going to get into a stalemate with the cops for long enough that Batman would show up and disarm them all with minimal difficulty.

After paying for the food, the young blond finally made his way towards the crime scene, eventually coming across a large man in a blue coat and hat, currently eating a donut as he stood beside the commissioner, waiting for their opportunity to take down the group.

"Yo, Commissioner Gordon, Detective Bullock, what's happening?" the nineteen year old blond asked the pair of cops calmly, earning a pair of surprised looks from the older men.

"What the hell's CSI doing here?" Harvey Bullock asked upon seeing the spiky haired boy.

"Oh, I was just having some lunch nearby and heard an explosion," Naruto offered the man with a disarming smile adorning his face.

"And it took you fifteen minutes to get here after hearing the explosion?" the blue coated detective asked suspiciously earning a shake of the boys head in the negative.

"No, I just chose to finish eating my fill before wasting time coming to the scene of a crime in progress," Naruto explained with a shrug earning a few blinks of surprise to decorate his seniors faces at his casual dismissal.

"Well, you're unneeded here, leave before things turn violent," Gordon ordered the blond who simply looked at him blankly before saying a single sentence.

"Too late."

As soon as the whiskered teen said that there was the sound of shouting, screaming and gunfire. The effect was immediate as the cops pulled out their firearms and prepared to storm the building to save anyone that was left.

"And thus the Bat leaves the scene of its feeding and returns to its cave to wait for the next meal," the young blond stated in a mockery of a documentary tone, making the two detectives look at him strangely before seeing the raid team leaving the bank with the defeated criminals and the now freed hostages, the only evidence of what had happened inside being the small bat shaped blade that one of them brought out.

It was then that the youngsters words made sense, however the real question that flooded Gordon's mind was simple _'how can he always tell when Batman is there?'_ however as soon as he turned to ask the blond toxicologist how he always knew, he came face to face with thin air.

'_And now he vanishes just like Batman… there is definitely something fishy going on with that boy.'_

XXX XXX XXX

Despite the commissioners thoughts, Naruto hadn't vanished with shunshin, Hiraishin or even a simple burst of speed, no he had simply walked away just after making his statement, as such he was completely unaware of the suspicion he had raised simply for being quiet.

Of course that didn't change one simple fact that made him raise an eyebrow in surprise, a young blonde woman was supposedly being mugged in an alley. There were two things that made him almost burst out in laughter at the scene however, one the thugs weren't exactly being enthusiastic about their current point of action and the other was a little bit of knowledge he had managed to find in the world… namely that the woman was Dr Harleen Frances Quinzel aka. Harley Quinn, the Jokers most loyal subordinate.

With a simple kage bunshin and Kawarimi, the blond hid in the shadows and unsealed his costume before walking in from the opposite end of the alley.

"So… who am I supposed to save? the woman or the muggers?" he said with an air of amusement as the trio stopped their 'act' and looked at him bluntly.

"Please save me!" the 'damsel in distress' pleaded earning widening of eyes off the 'muggers'.

"Hmm… I would be more inclined to save you if you actually needed saving Dr Quinzel," Naruto stated with a shrug, shocking the two muggers at his dismissive attitude towards the clown prince of crimes number one henchman.

"Oh poopy, I was sure this'd work," the blond haired woman said in a downbeat tone before looking at the two people that were now looking at her with a hint of fear in their features, "alright boys, you can run away now."

And run away they did… it actually surprised the blond that they were running at genin level speeds, it actually made him smile a little at the self-preservation instinct humans possessed.

"So, given the way you're acting, I'd guess that you were supposed to kill me right?" the blue eyed shinobi asked the blond haired woman without any hint of concern in his tone.

"Nah, I was just supposed to knock ya out so puddin could meet ya," the psychologically challenged woman told him calmly before pulling out a large hammer from nowhere, "NOW STAY STILL SO I CAN HIT YA!"

Naruto could only stare dumbfounded as the attractive woman charge him with a mallet, he honestly didn't expect her to have access to hammerspace (he had discovered that term online and never thought he would see it in real life (outside of Fūinjutsu that is)). However despite the size and speed of the psychopaths hammer, Naruto had dodged Ē's fastest attack back near the start of the fourth shinobi war, so dodging the hammer wasn't exactly hard for him.

Eventually the blond shinobi decided to do something that he thought would be fun, namely vanishing from the hammer wielders vision as her hammer passed the area he once was.

Harley instantly blinked at the man's sudden disappearance before hearing a voice coming from above her.

"Why are you trying to crush my skull when you're supposed to be taking me alive?" Naruto asked calmly as he stood on top of the head of her mallet, using his chakra as a form of cushion that managed to nullify his weight, it was actually a well-known trick in the elemental nations and was used to minimise environmental disturbance when moving.

"Oh no! I forgot!" the mentally disturbed woman almost shouted as she completely ignored the fact he was standing on her hammer as she began to wave her arms about frantically, disorientating the blond with the erratic movements before he lost his grip on the weapon and flew headfirst into a bin.

'_Note to self… don't stand on a maniacs weapon,' _Naruto muttered to himself as he effortlessly pulled his head out from the trashcan before finding it getting knocked back down by a harsh blow.

"_**Are you seriously getting beaten by a damaged woman?"**_ Kurama asked with a raised eyebrow at the current situation, earning a low growl off his host.

'_Shut up Kurama,'_ it was at that moment that Harley finial understood why 'her puddin' had taken such an interest in this new hero as her follow up blow failed to hit his head, instead finding contact with the end of a well cut log that shot off before hitting a wall, revealing the note attached to it 'behind you'.

Turning around she didn't have time to react as a fist slammed itself into her face and sent her flying back a few feet, her mind suddenly finding itself in the land of dreams as she stopped in a heap.

"You are definitely going to Arkham for that," Naruto muttered with a twitching eye as he proceeded to pick up the crumpled form of Harley Quin before vanishing via shunshin.

XXX XXX XXX

Arkham was in an uproar. The reason for this was simple, the Joker had just managed to leave the facility without anyone realising and now they had found out the exact opposite had also happened… Harley Quinn had suddenly appeared on one of their cells without anyone noticing.

It was truly annoying for the security staff who were still trying to figure out how both events had happened, however they weren't exactly the brightest of people to begin with and they were dealing with an insane genius and the third god of shinobi… yeah they weren't going to solve the mystery anytime soon.

There was really only one thing they could do and that was call the GCPD and inform them of the newest development, while hopefully finding out how people kept getting passed the security so easily.

XXX XXX XXX

Batman couldn't stop his eyebrow from raising at the information he had managed to intercept, Harley was back in Arkham without anyone knowing how she got in.

Of course Batman didn't take long to figure out what had happened, the Joker had tried to make a move against Zero and failed miserably, resulting in Quinn's capture.

Of course this didn't change the dark knights concern about the masked vigilante, if anything it only made things worse, Harley was one of the Jokers most loyal and most dangerous henchmen, taking her out would make the clown prince of crime wary of his abilities and would lay a trap far more dangerous than he initially would've.

In other words he would have to work even harder at finding the cloaked vigilante in the hopes of ensuring the man didn't fall into one of the clowns traps… even superpowers wouldn't necessarily help him against someone like the Joker.

XXX XXX XXX

Naruto couldn't help but let out a sigh as he walked towards an abandoned amusement park on the outskirts of Gotham. The reason for this was rather simple, he had sifted through Harley's memories for knowledge on where the Joker was currently basing his operations was located and discovered it was here.

It also helped that he knew that the man had started laying traps just in case the former psychiatrist failed… or the one to intervene was Batman.

Of course as far as Naruto was concerned these traps were all amateur work, compared to the sorts of traps Sasuke alone could achieve by the time he was a genin, these were child's play. On top of that they weren't exactly the most subtle of traps either, regularly sticking out as being some of the only functioning parts of the amusement park.

Though he wouldn't deny that he liked the way the traps worked, despite being dangerous for normal people, they did possess a certain humour behind their conceptualisation that he could understand, it was obvious to him that the Joker was indeed nothing more than someone that wanted people to lighten up and stop being so serious all the time.

He actually felt compelled to humour the psychotic clown.

It didn't exactly take long to reach the clown prince of crimes HQ, where he quickly noted that there were two large men dressed like jesters, two large hyena's and Gotham's worst villain himself. Surrounding them were brown crates scattered all around, several mirrors and finally, a large clown face that took up an entire wall.

"Interesting abode you have here, though it could do with some orange," Naruto called out from the doorway, making all the inhabitants of the room look in his direction, though the hyena's quickly dismissed the intruder and went back to sleep.

That aspect really confused the pale skinned clown, from his experience Bud and Lou were probably the most aggressive animals he'd ever seen and they were just ignoring this new guy, that almost made less sense than his mind.

"So, I finally get to meet the famous Shadow!" the Joker stated grandiosely as he decided to leave the matter of his pets for later.

"My… name… is…Zero," the blue eyed shinobi stated through gritted teeth, still annoyed that people kept calling him that.

"Really? From Zero to hero, is that it?" the legendary criminal asked with a grin.

"Something like that," Naruto said in a much calmer tone than when he had been called Shadow.

"Where's Harley?!" the green haired villain shouted upon realising that his primary henchman had disappeared.

"You sent her to get this guy boss," one of the large thugs informed him before shuffling back from the glare he got in response.

"Then why isn't she with him?" the clown prince of crime asked the thug angrily, causing the man to stutter in indecision.

"Because she wouldn't put her mallet down, so I put her in Arkham," Naruto stated calmly, earning a few blinks in surprise from the psychotic crook.

"Oh, is that so," the clown muttered with a surprising air of sanity as he did so, "so why are you here?"

"Because Dr Quinzel told me you wanted to see me," the masked blond told him calmly before caressing his masked chin, "though I do have a problem you could solve for me."

Now that statement caught the psychotic clown off guard, he had never been told by anyone that he could solve their problems… especially not by hero's.

"And this problem would be?" the hint of scepticism that laced the pale man's voice was clear to everyone.

"What can I call you? Simply calling you Joker is too mainstream, how about something like Mr Kerr, or G.I. Joe?" Naruto said with a noticeable amount of enthusiasm in his voice.

"Mr Kerr… Joe Kerr… I like it!" the pale faced psycho said before letting out a laugh.

"Well then Mr Kerr, you can call me Mr Ro, nice to meet you," Naruto said with a happy tone before holding his hand out in a gesture to shake hands with the clown prince of crime who proceeded to grasp his hand in his own.

The result was… unexpected. The Joker and his gang had fully expected to incapacitate the masked hero with the shocker that the Joker almost always kept on his palm, what they didn't expect was for the exact opposite to happen with the most feared man in Gotham being lit up like a Christmas tree courtesy of the young blonds handshake.

The clown prince of crime crumpled to the floor twitching at the electricity flowing through his veins, prompting the young blond to look at him and say something that made the clown laugh.

"Perhaps you should put your buzzer on the right way next time Mr Kerr," it wasn't the sentence itself that made the psychopath laugh but rather the fact the new hero said it in an amused tone.

Of course it took a little while for the henchmen to realise what was going on before they decided to do their job and charged the blond. Naruto didn't really care about these two and simply watched them come towards him with a bored expression that couldn't be seen through his mask before doing something they didn't expect… pulling out a large mallet they recognised as Harley's and with a mighty swing, knocked one of them into one of the clown faces eye sockets.

"And it's a homerun!" the spikey haired shinobi shouted, making the Joker laugh once again as he proceeded to stand on his feet with little difficulty, "hey, Mr Kerr, you wanna try?"

The grin he got in response was savage at best as the green haired clown grabbed the mallet off the blond and proceeded to swing it at the now immobile form… of the remaining thug.

"And it's a bunt! Quick hurry to first base before they run you out!" Naruto shouted at the insane clown who suddenly realised what he was doing before facing the blond only to find a fist embed itself in his face.

Let it not be said that the Joker is a wimp, sure there were times when Batman had taken him out with a single punch however that was never because the Joker was unable to take a punch, no it was because he had grown bored by then and decided that screwing around with the staff of Arkham would be more fun than continuing his current course of action.

However that wasn't happening this time. Zero had proven that he was prepared to fight the career criminal on his own terms, with a sense of humour if his current actions were anything to go by.

The next thing he felt was a wet substance poured over him, however he recognised the smell of it and with a few blinks of surprise he looked at himself before asking a simple question.

"Why orange?" of all the colours of paint the blond could've poured on him, why did it have to be orange?

"Because orange is awesome!" the blue eyed ninja said without an hint of hesitation, making the now orange man laugh at the excuse before suddenly hopping into action and launching a punch at the hooded vigilante who simply raised his foot to face level, causing the Joker to run into it and slide down.

However the next thing that happened surprised the blond, namely with the hand that grabbed his other ankle and pulled him off balance before he found himself in a grapple with the orange painted psycho trying to break his leg… key word being trying.

Chakra was a funny substance, large quantities would cause the body to grow differently to normal, making the muscles more compressed, the organs more efficient and the bones denser, making a shinobi much better at sustaining damage than a civilian and right now that difference in body structure had become apparent to his opponent as he failed to so much as bend the blonds leg, let alone break it.

"Sorry but I don't appreciate people trying to hump my leg," Naruto said, making the clown laugh before the blond planted the foot he had used to kick the criminals face on the ground and kicked up with his other leg.

The results were the Joker finding himself lifted off the ground before being slammed back down by an axe kick that nearly crushed his ribcage.

It was for that reason alone that the Joker had stopped laughing and had released the leg he had been trying to break, only to find the foot slammed into his gut hard enough to make him black out.

"Well that wasn't quite as dangerous as I thought it'd be," Naruto muttered to himself before standing up and securing the three humans before petting the awakening hyena's and vanishing in a swirl of leaves with the three crooks held together via a thick rope.

XXX XXX XXX

Okay, now Arkham was really proving problematic. The Joker had once again returned to the asylum, this time however he had returned the same way as Harley Quinn had and was painted orange while his documents had been altered to give him the 'name' Joe Kerr.

It didn't help that the man had been discovered to be suffering from severe bruising that came from being hit really hard though it was nothing truly serious.

Of course the fact that they had found a note with the psychopath didn't really help matters, _'have fun with Mr Kerr, lots of love Zero'._

XXX XXX XXX

It was official. Bruce Wayne was shocked, Zero had confronted Joker and captured him. That definitely put the possible danger the man posed to the world if he ever turned away from the path of the hero even higher than it currently was.

However the part that made him relieved was the knowledge that the man had captured the criminal, he knew of far too many that would've simply killed the clown under the pretence of 'justice'.

Despite everything that the Joker had done, Bruce was still hoping that the man would one day give up his deranged plots and go straight. He knew it was unlikely however that didn't change the fact that there was nothing that could prove such a thing impossible, that was one of the reasons he refused to kill, he chose to see the good in humanity even if he submerged himself in the bad.

He just hoped that Zero wouldn't give up and turn to the path of the 'antihero' as they called them in comic books.

XXX XXX XXX

'**The escaped Arkham convict 'the Joker' has been brought back into the care of the psychiatric professionals of Gotham's Asylum. The hero in this case?**

**Shadow!'**

Naruto twitched upon reading that they were still calling him Shadow before he read further in on the newspaper, looking for the page they had decided to dedicate to any knowledge based on his 'adventures', then again they already had a double spread dedicated to Batman so it wasn't that much of a surprise.

'**As many of you have probably realised from the title of this very page, the results from the vote are in with Shadow beating Zero by 372,000 to 312,000 so from this day forwards, the Gotham Times will refer to this new vigilante by his original name of Shadow.'**

Letting out a sigh of annoyance, Naruto couldn't stop himself from thinking about how to get the city to stop calling him Shadow, perhaps Batsy had an idea?

It was with that thought in mind that he decided it was time to stop by Wayne manor for Zero to have a chat with Bruce Wayne, face to mask.


	6. Chapter 6

Alfred Pennyworth was a proud butler. He had been serving the Wayne family for decades, he was one of the people that had literally changed his current masters diapers back when he was just a baby.

He was also one of only three people in the world that Bruce Wayne had allowed knowledge of his true face, the face of Batman. Alfred had always known that Bruce Wayne had died back that night his parents had been murdered, what was left was a mere shadow of a man, the masked vigilante Batman.

That was his masters true face, the one that lay under the mask was his true mask, it was what he wore to blend in with a society that he didn't belong to, while the cowl he wore when fighting crime was what truly reflected what was on the inside.

But still, he had promised the man's parents that he would look after the boy before they had been murdered and his loyalty towards them was unquestionable. So here he was, dusting within Wayne manner, making sure that the mansion would pass as being lived in despite his current employers obsession with the caves beneath the building.

His ears perked up as a certain chime rang through the house, indicating that someone had just rung the front doorbell. It was with a despondent sigh that the old butler made his way towards the front door, ready to turn back anyone that wasn't actually important, his master was currently working in the batcave after all.

Opening the door he took a breath to prepare himself to shoo the visitor away before he was interrupted by a cold and calm voice.

"Hello Mr Pennyworth, I'm here to see Batman," instantly the butler could do nothing more than stare in shock at the strangely designed mask that stood before him, one that he had become familiar with due to his masters regular adjustments to the database.

"I am sorry but this is the Wayne residence, Batman does not live here," the older of the two stated in the dullest tone he could manage in an attempt to make the stranger leave.

"Really? I never knew," the hooded hero said with sarcasm dripping from his tone, "I always expected a middle aged man with that body and enough money to pay for all those gadgets lived here."

Silence reigned for several seconds as the Wayne family butler processed what this strange hero had said.

"Come on, it really isn't that hard to figure out that Bruce Wayne is Batman when you put your mind to it, hell I'm sure the only reason commissioner Gordon doesn't know is because he doesn't want to know," the masked ninja stated lightly before sighing in annoyance at the butlers refusal to move, "fine… I'll just let myself in."

In an instant the cloaked figure had quite literally vanished from Alfred's sight as he performed a simple gymnastic manoeuvre to jump through the gap and over the man, completely negating the butlers attempt to block his way.

"So are you going to show me down or do I have to break through the floor?" Naruto asked the old man calmly after processing the fact that Batman was currently underneath the mansion, honestly the only reason he had gone via the front door was due to manners as opposed to anything else.

"I don't know what you are trying to do but if you don't leave right now I will call the police," the nearly bald butler stated sternly, earning a blank stare off the blond shinobi, though it wasn't possible to see it through the mask.

"(sigh) fine," and with that the young blond proceeded to gather a large quantity of chakra into the palm of his hand to create a spiralling ball that was famous back home, the rasengan.

"W-what are you doing?" the Wayne family butler asked in shock upon seeing the strange, violent, glowing ball in the cloaked hero's hand.

"I told you, I'm going to break through the floor since you are being a stubborn old goat and refusing to let me speak with Batsy," and with that said the young man proceeded to slam his hand to the floor, only to stop before the impact due to a certain old man's next words.

"Fine, stop and I'll call master Bruce," the old Pennyworth said before continuing when the intruder stopped, "however I believe you'll find that you are wrong about master Bruce being Batman."

"Sure, sure, just get him up here already," the blue eyed ninja said in a rather hurried manner, "hell the only reason I even bothered to ring the doorbell was manners."

Now Alfred really didn't enjoy situations like this, the mere thought of some random psycho showing up and asking for Batman was completely different from some perfectly normal person up and asking for Bruce Wayne.

It didn't help that this person refused to believe that Bruce Wayne wasn't Batman.

Naruto had to admit that following the butler wasn't exactly difficult, especially when he was using the Tōton Jutsu to remain practically invisible.

So it wasn't hard for him to note the pattern Alfred played on the piano to open the elevator to the batcave, or for him to silently slip into the box with him.

It took a surprisingly short amount of time for the elevator to reach the subterranean base of operations, where the butler proceeded to inform his master of what had happened.

"So he does know," the dark knight said with a slight amount of concern in his tone as he thought about anything he had done to give it away. His mind quickly focused on something the other hero had said back when he had busted him out of the bank during Fugate's attempt on the mayor, _'Because I have a way of tracking you but I don't have a way of tracking the mayor so I decided to see if you did'._

He hadn't forgotten those words however he had checked all of his gear and even destroyed it all before returning later that night, so any tracking devices should've been removed… right?

A loud whistle broke the caped crusader out of his thoughts and made both him and his butler turn to face the batmobile, only to see a familiar masked vigilante crouching next to it and prodding the vehicle with a single finger.

"Nice place you got here, how much did it cost? One, two billion?" Naruto asked calmly before facing the duo.

"I have to admit, I wasn't expecting to see you here, how did you find me?" the 'playboy billionaire' asked in a hope to get some idea of how this stranger had managed to discover his identity and hideout.

"Oh that, that's simple, every person has a unique… let's just call it life signature, I can sense these life signatures and therefore as long as I've already met a person I'm capable of tracking them down quite easily," the masked teen stated calmly as he tried to figure out how to open the car next to him.

"I see…" the dark hero stated with narrowed eyes as he watched the stranger examining his car, he wasn't too worried, the batmobile was the most advanced car around and breaking into it was practically impossible.

"Now that I've answered your question, you can answer one of mine right?" Naruto said with a cheerful tone that made the dark knight nervous.

"That depends on what you want to ask," the older superhero stated as calmly as he could while knowing that he was facing someone that he lacked any real knowledge of.

"Is there any way to get the Gotham Times to stop calling Shadow and call me Zero?" that question made Bruce blink in surprise as he processed that this other hero had quite literally broken into his base just to ask about public relations… something he didn't really bother with as Batman, sure he had to deal with stuff like that as Bruce Wayne but that was completely different.

"You broke into here just to ask that?" Alfred asked in disbelief earning a thoughtful look off the ninja, not that either of them could see it, though they certainly did get the impression by the tilting of his head.

"Yeah pretty much," he finally admitted, earning a small chuckle off the older hero.

"You really aren't sane are you?" the playboy asked the ninja.

"Of course not, I wouldn't be a superhero if I was," the teen replied calmly before trying to get back on topic, "but that's not important, what's important is whether or not you have a way to get that reporter to start calling me by my proper name."

"Honestly the only way I could imagine that happening is if you gave them an exclusive interview but I doubt you'd want to do that," the last Wayne said before staring in disbelief as the young man started muttering to himself and eliciting an evil chuckle, "is there a problem?"

"How do I arrange an interview with miss Vale?" Naruto asked as calmly as he could, earning several blinks of surprise from the dark knight.

"You would have to go to either phone or go to the Gotham Times directly and arrange one with her in person," Batman said as calmly as he could manage, "however do you really think it's a good idea to do that?"

"Yep, I'll get my actual name used in the papers and I'll be able to deter kids from becoming vigilantes," the spiky haired blond said calmly, earning a narrowing of the well-established hero's eyes.

"And how do you plan on deterring children from becoming vigilantes?" Bruce asked seriously, earning a noncommittal shrug off the ninja.

"That's… a secret," the blue eyed ninja stated in a manner that failed to be mysterious.

"I assume I don't have to tell you to keep quiet about my identity," the billionaire stated seriously, earning a nod of confirmation from the masked vigilante.

"Don't worry, I'm not an enemy… otherwise I'd have killed you before you even knew I was here," the blond stated calmly, earning a narrowing of Batman's eyes.

"Are you saying you're a murderer?" the frigid tone that the caped crusader said that question with made it quite clear that he was not happy with the intruders statement.

"Nah, I'm not, but if I was your enemy then I'd be a villain and therefore I probably wouldn't value life like I currently do, which would probably result in me killing you," the whiskered shinobi explained to the dark knight.

"And what makes you so certain you could kill me?" the world's greatest detective asked seriously, earning a non-committal shrug off the other vigilante.

"Because I have a large array of skills, am physically stronger than you, was literally raised to have a full working knowledge of traps and was even taught the most efficient ways to end a person's life," the cloaked ninja listed off calmly, earning a further narrowing of Bruce's eyes.

"So you're saying you were literally raised to kill," it was more of a statement than a question and the nod of confirmation he received from the super-powered ninja simply made him even more concerned about the situation.

"Yeah, though I'll admit I've only really killed one person," that statement made the billionaires eyes widen before he continued, "and even then it was my teacher that finished him off."

"Still, since then I've decided to believe in humanity, I will not be an executioner because I've seen so many situations when people that seem like hopeless cases hell bent on destruction have sacrificed their own lives to undo the damage they've caused," the blue eyed ninja stated seriously, "anyway, sorry for taking up so much of your time Batsy, I'll show myself out 'kay?"

And in an instant the cloaked hero had vanished, no disturbance in the air, no signs of movement, nothing, he was simply there one instant and gone the next.

"I'm sorry master Bruce, I never intended on leading that stranger down here, honestly I don't even know how he knew how to get down here," the old butler stated apologetically, earning a raised hand from his master.

"It's quite alright Alfred, he already knew so there wasn't much you could do," the dark haired man said calmly as he walked over to the Batmobile, "the real question is what is this mark he left on my car."

Immediately the old butler walked over to the high tech vehicle and inspected the mark left by the strange hero.

"It would appear to be some sort of Chinese," the balding man stated in a dreary tone.

"Japanese actually, almost like that new forensics kid they have in GCPD," the dark knight stated with a small grin.

"Yes, however didn't Master Richard say that he'd seen the two together?" the old Pennyworth asked the world's greatest detective calmly.

"Yes, but didn't Dick also say that this man claimed to be 'the number of infinite possibilities?' what's to say he can't create copies of himself?" the billionaire asked calmly before deciding to update his database on the hero.

**Alias: Zero**

**Real Name: Naruto Uzumaki (speculated)**

**Age: 19 (speculated)**

**Height: 175cm (estimate)**

**Weight: 55kg (estimate)**

**Eye Colour: Blue (speculated)**

**Hair Colour: Blond (speculated)**

**Allegiance: Justice**

**Abilities: Teleportation, Air Manipulation (speculated), Illusions, defying gravity, super strength, replication(speculated), heightened awareness, specialised tracking**

**Weaknesses: Unknown**

**Threat Level: High (estimate)**

XXX XXX XXX

Vicki Vale was an attractive young woman, with long, light red hair and bright green eyes, while her well-proportioned body was clothed in a well-fitting beige business suit with a green shirt underneath it. She opted to wear trousers that matched her jacket and regular shoes, leaving plenty to the imagination.

Around her neck was a professional quality camera with a large lens for those far away shots that she regularly took for her work. She was a talented reporter after all and took a lot of pride in the job she did.

However there was one thing that she was missing in her CV that she wanted to get on there, an interview with a superhero. Not many people could claim to have conducted an interview with a superhero, well, unless they lived in Central City, then it was pretty much a given that they'd get an interview with the Flash at some point.

Superman also occasionally gave interviews but that was a rarity, not as rare as an interview with Batman, but still rare nonetheless. Batman was pretty much impossible for anyone to interview since he never stuck around after stringing crooks up for the cops.

But now there was a new hero on the block and he had defeated The Joker himself. That alone was worth something, let alone the fact this guy had also caught the Scarecrow and saved the mayor despite the fact he had only recently shown up.

Honestly she could see Shadow becoming as big a name as Batman or Superman soon if he kept up his current actions and continued to imprison super villain's like that.

However the problem was getting any real information on the guy, he seemed to be like a super powered version of Batman from what she could tell, well, he was also apparently far more easy going and cheerful but that wasn't that important as far as the public was concerned.

She was happy to hear that but that was because he would probably be more inclined to give her an interview than someone like the dark knight.

Still, that didn't matter right now. What mattered right now was that she didn't know where to find her next story.

Her problem was quickly taken out of her hands.

In an instant she felt a pair of hands grab her before an immense pressure impacted her entire body, easily knocking the wind out of her and making her stomach turn enough that she found it difficult to keep her lunch down.

"We need to talk Ms Vale," came a cold voice that instantly sent shivers down the reporters spine as she noted she was no longer on the street like she was before, instead finding herself on top of a tall building not far from the ledge.

Regaining her bearings and ensuring her stomach was no longer going to empty itself, she turned to face her abductor, only to freeze in shock upon seeing a strange white mask with decorative swirls upon it. Another point that she made note of was that this stranger was also wearing a large black, hooded cloak with the hood up, while his hands were completely covered by a fine black material and his feet were protected by sandals of all things.

"W-who are you and what do you want?" she asked with fear clear in her voice, obviously aware that there was no one to save her if this person decided to end her life and she was sure that despite her moderate ability in self-defence, she was probably no match for this person that had managed to pluck her off the street and bring her up over twenty stories in an instant.

"My name is Zero… and I want you to stop calling me Shadow!" the darkly dressed ninja said childishly, making the reporter blink in surprise at his sudden change in demeanour, she was certain he was some sort of criminal from his first sentence to her.

"And what would I get out of that?" she asked him, no longer fearing for her life upon discovering that this person was in fact a hero… even if he didn't look like one.

"An exclusive interview," the blond shinobi deadpanned.

Instantly the red head found herself frozen on the spot. She had a chance at interviewing a superhero of all things and all she had to do was change the name she used to write about him in the paper. Honestly the only problem she had with that was that doing so would render the poll pointless and many of Gotham's citizen's would be bitter that their votes had been ignored.

If it wasn't for that then she'd be perfectly happy to give in to this hero's demands and call him Zero in exchange for an interview. However keeping the readership loyal was an important part of being a reporter and wasting their money on a phone poll and then ignoring it wasn't the best way to go about it.

"That's rather tempting, however I'll need to speak with my editor before making a decision, the people have already spent money on deciding on your name after all," the professional stated as calmly as she could manage, of course that was completely useless against a shinobi of Naruto's level.

"I see… that's… annoying," the blond said as a metaphorical rain cloud appeared above his head.

"Are you really that upset about being called shadow?" the reporter asked him with disbelief apparent in her tone.

"Yes," his answer was short, concise and something she had never truly expected to hear from a hero of all people, "honestly, I said I was _a_ shadow, not that I was called shadow!"

Vicki really didn't know what to think as she watched a full grown man (and a superhero no less) throw a tantrum on top of a twenty story building, simply because she didn't use the name he had chosen.

Honestly the Flash had ended up being named by the city he lived in because he pretty much just went by in a Flash, Superman was called that because the citizen's had thought it suited his apparent invincibility, honestly the only hero she could think of that had created their own name was Batman himself but he did go with the theme of bats so that was to be expected.

And here this guy was throwing a fit because people called him Shadow instead of Zero. It didn't help that there were a lot of people that didn't like the idea of calling a hero a zero, then again most people didn't bother trying to understand tarot.

Sure she didn't fully understand it but she did know about the fools journey. That was why she accepted his name as having another meaning outside of being a nobody but most people she knew didn't realise that meaning.

"Look, like I said, I'll speak with my editor, do you have a contact number I could use?" she honestly hoped that the man had a phone number that she could trace, that way she'd be capable of discovering his real identity.

"I'm not giving you anything that can be trace Ms Vale, however if you want to contact me," he started only to pull out a three pronged kunai with a large cylindrical handle from his cloak, revealing the armour that lay beneath it to the attractive woman, "throw this and I'll be there in an instant."

"Does this have some sort of tracking device on it?" the young woman asked as she examined the weapon, wondering exactly how it worked.

"That's for me to know and you to scratch your pretty little head over," the blond shinobi said from behind his mask, "so until next time, adios!"

The young reporter was about to shout at him about leaving her on a random roof however she soon found herself experiencing the crushing sensation she did upon first being taken up to the roof once again, resulting in her nearly losing her lunch once again, only to note that she was back at street level and not far from where she had initially been taken from.

"Well that was unpleasant," she muttered as she decided to go back to the Gotham Times building, she really didn't feel like eating since her encounter with the masked super hero.

XXX XXX XXX

Naruto couldn't stop himself from letting out a sigh as he reappeared in his apartment via Hiraishin. Honestly he had found the day rather annoying, mainly because of the amount he had block Kurama out while speak with Vicki Vale.

Then there was the Batmobile, that was pretty awesome, he had actually ran a diagnostic jutsu Tenten had taught him in case he ever chose to start using proper weapons and the results were really impressive… honestly he was certain no other vehicle in the world had the same type of engine that car did, he had never seen anything like it before, though he was pretty sure that if Batman had used chakra metal it would've been even more efficient than it currently was.

However he didn't have enough chakra metal on him to make an engine, a Zanbatō yes, but something as big as an engine, no. Still, he probably could give the older vigilante a sample, just a small bit to see if the man could replicate it, it was unlikely but not impossible.

If the man managed to do that then he would probably end up with a whole new style of weapons, after all, it had been proven back home that chakra metal conducted nearly any form of energy far better than any other metal, even if it was mainly used for chakra flow specialists like Azuma-sensei and Sasuke.

Still, that was something for another day. He had done enough giving that reporter a Hiraishin Kunai to call him with when she had been given a decision about an exclusive interview.

So it was with a sigh of relief that he slumped down onto his sofa and turned the TV on, he could really do with a cheesy action movie right about now.


End file.
